Earlier this week, we were introduced to a new concept in intellectual property law: the European 'Community Design'. The Community Design is a sort of trademark on design, and sits halfway between a trademark and a patent. I decided to investigate what, exactly, the laws and regulations around Community Designs are, and what I found was shocking. Think the USPTO is bad? Wait until you learn about the Community Design.

A lot of these intellectual property laws are framed by hectic/clandestine corporate lobbying. Therefore, it's no surprise that they serve the interests of large corporations. Thanks to a strong opposition by leftist legislators in India, nothing like this exists and software patents per se are not allowed. Also, minor variations of extant inventions cannot be patented.